In Pakistan, a college teacher was sentenced to ten years in jail for a supposed blasphemous lecture presented in class on January 8, 2021. According to Aljazeera news, judge Raja Jawad announced the decision based on the charges filed in 2017. Another anti-terrorism court sentenced three to death for social media posts deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
In June 2020, Tahar Ahmed Naseem was shot in a courtroom hearing in Peshawar for claiming he was the Prophet, Muhammad. Pakistani Blasphemy laws are known as some of the harshest blasphemy laws in the world; The Diplomat Post going as far as to label them, “bloodthirsty laws.” As shown, these laws propagate violence, discrimination, and unfortunately used as a malicious tool, to target minority groups in Pakistan, and further personal vendettas, while also not being properly enforced.
Tahir Ashrafi condemns US report on religious freedom in Pakistan
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He said that the US Commission on Religious Freedom sees nothing in India.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Special Representative of the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi on Friday strongly condemned the statement of the US Secretary of State regarding religious freedom in Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Friday, he said that Pakistan is a country of all religions, adding that the foreign office is in contact with the US Commission on Religious Freedom in this regard and hopefully this allegation will be dropped soon.